The BLACK SWAN (_Cygnus-Chenopsis-atratus_) has a slender body, very long neck, and small well-formed head; the beak nearly equals the head in length, and is without a cere. In this species almost the entire plumage is of a brownish black, lightest on the under side, and shading into blackish grey at the edges of the feathers. This sombre garb is relieved by the brilliant white of the primary and of a considerable portion of the secondary quills. The eyes are scarlet, the bridles red, and the feet black: the beak is carmine-red, tipped with white, a stripe near the extremity of the upper mandible is also white. This bird is not quite so large as the _Cygnus olor_. The Black Swan is not merely strictly confined to Australia, but inhabits only its southern and western districts, occupying the rivers, estuaries, lagoons, and large pieces of water frequently in large flocks. On arms of the sea, which expand into sheets of shallow water, these birds are especially numerous, as in such localities they are beyond the reach of severe winds or pursuit from the natives. "In the white man, however," says Mr. Gould, "the Black Swan finds an enemy so deadly, that it has been almost, if not entirely, extirpated. One most destructive mode in which this is effected, is that of chasing the birds with a boat at the time they shed their primary quill-feathers, when, being unable to fly, they are soon rowed down and captured." The breeding season is from the beginning of October to the middle of January. Mr. Gould procured newly-hatched young, clad in greyish white, at Southport River, on the 31st of December, and took five newly-laid eggs on Flinders' Island on Bass' Straits, on the 13th January. The nest is large, composed of flags and other herbage, and generally placed on an isolated island. The eggs are from five to eight, pale green stained all over with buffy brown, and are four and a half inches long by two and three-quarters broad. The Black Swan is graceful in demeanour, and gentle and harmless unless molested. [Illustration: BLACK-NECKED SWANS (_Cygnus nigricollis_).]